Document misregistration-correcting means



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l tzlzer J 19 0/1600 wwMMQ--. ATTORN Y April 9, 1963 w.J. HANSON DOCUMENT MISREGISTRATION-CORRECTING MEANS Filed June 22, 1961April 9, 1963 w. J. HANSON 3,084,931

DOCUMENT MISREGISTRATION-CORRECTING MEANS Filed June 22, 1961 2Sheets-Sheet 2 x KWWZ/A 12222 /L BY 110 5 28 a 3,8- i,93l Patented Apr.9, 1963 3,634,931 DGCUMENT MISREGIISTRATIUN-CORRECTHNG MEANS Waiter .1.Hanson, Uld Greenwich, Conn., assignor to Pitney-Bowes, inc, Stamford,Conn, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 22, 1961, Ser. No. 118,963 6Claims. (Cl. 271-52) This invention relates to an apparatus forcorrecting the misregistration of documents fed in succession along adocument feed path.

In the feeding of documents for sorting and other purposes, it isfrequently desirable and at times necessary that each document be fed inregistry past operating means such, for example, as the reading head ofan apparatus for automatically reading printed characters as they appearon the successively [fed documents. Correction of the misregistration ofdocuments being fed is accomplished according to the present inventionby providing a resilient roller Whose peripheral surface is disposedadjacent an endless document feeding surface to effect an interferencerelation for each document fed between said surfaces. The radially outermarginal portion of the resilient roller deflects in a direction towarda document registration surface each time a document is fed between theresilient roller and the endless document feeding surface. With thisdeflection the document, while being fed, is yieldably urged in thedirection toward the registration surface to bring the edge of thatdocument which is adjacent the registration surface into engagement andinto registry with the latter By locating any operating means inregistry with the document registration surface, each documentregistered with the registration surface will, of course, be in registrywith that operating means.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is the provision of newand improved means for correcting the misregistration of documents asthey are fed in succession along a document feed path.

Another object is to provide such means which is effective in operationon paper documents as well as on card stock; and this without mutilationof the documents.

Further objects are to provide such means which are adjustable, reliablein operation and economical.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent as thedescription proceeds.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawingwherein:

FlG. 1 is a fragmentary plan View of a document separating and feedingapparatus including means for correcting the misregistration ofdocuments according to said embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view thereof taken along the sightline 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view taken in section along line 33 in FIG. 1;and

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the roller shown in FIG. 3, certain of theparts for supporting the same being omitted in FIG. 4 so as clearly toshow an eccentric adjustment feature thereof.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, a separating and feeding unitis generally indicated at 10. With this unit documents D are separatedfrom a stack 12 and forwardly fed in one-by-one succession to the rightand downwardly as viewed in FIG. 1. In this regard, a

the endmost document of the stack becomes attached to the advancing feedbelts and moves forwardly therewith. A plurality of reverse feed belts20 are trained about pulley wheels 22 and are driven in the clockwisedirection to prevent more than a single document from being separatedand forwardly fed from the stack 12 at one time. For additional detailsof the structure and operation of the separating and feeding unit 16,reference may be had to U.S. Patent No. 2,977,114 granted on March 28,1961, to W. J. Hanson et al.

A pair of side guides 24, 26 are mounted on the upper surface of aplatform 23 and aid in guiding the lead end of each document into thebite between a pair of driven rollers 30 and a pair of idler rollers 32.The rollers 36 are secured on a shaft which is driven from the shaft ofone of the sets of pulley wheels 16 by means of a drive belt 34 trainedabout respective pulley wheels secured to these two shafts. The idlerrollers 32 are mounted for rotation on a shaft carried at one end of alever 36. The lever 36 is pivotally mounted on a shaft 38 and is biasedin the counterclockwise direction by a tension spring til.

After leaving the bite between rollers 30, 32, the lead end of eachsuccessively fed document enters a document feeding andmisregistration-correcting unit generally indicated at 4 2. This unit 42includes a wheel or disc 44 which is mounted on a shaft 46 for rotationabout an axis. The disc 44 has an endless circular peripheral surfacethat is driven in a closed path when the disc is rotated.

The platform 28 is disposed beneath the units 10 and 42, and thisplatform acts as a feed deck in that the documents when fedfrom thestack 12 ordinarily move with face.

their lower edge at least approximately in engagement with the uppersurface of this platform. The upper surface of the platform 28 directlybeneath the document feed path therefore acts as a document registrationsur- The document feed path and this document registration surfaceextend from the separating and feeding unit 10 along a portion of theendless peripheral surface of the disc 44 and then past the bite betweena feed belt 50 and each one of idler rollers 52 and 54. The feel belt 50is trained about pulley wheels 56 and 58. The idler roller 52 is carriedat one end of a lever 60 which is resiliently biased in thecounterclockwise direction (as viewed in FIG. 1) about a shaft 62. Inthis manner, the roller 52 is resiliently biased toward the feed belt5t). The idler roller 54 is resiliently biased toward the [feed belt 50by similar means not shown.

The drive to the lowermost one of pulley Wheels 16 (as viewed in FIG.1), to the uppermost one of pulley 7 wheels 22, to the disc 44 and tothe pulley wheel 58 may plurality of endless advancing feed belts 14 aretrained I be the same as that to the respective counterparts of thesemembers in the apparatus disclosed in the above-noted US. patent.

Disposed about said portion of the endless peripheral surface of thedisc 44 is a pair of generally U-shaped plate frame members 64 and 66;the latter member lying directly beneath the former. A plurality ofmounting pins 68 are provided, each of which is headed and slotted atits upper end for the reception of a screw driver. Each one of the pins68 extends in succession through a washer 70, an aperture in framemember 64, a spacer tube 71, an aperture in frame member 66, a spacertube 72, an aperture in a guide member 73 and then into tightenedthreaded engagement with a tapped hole in the platform 23. Each of theframe members 64, and 66 presents an arcuate edge 74 which, as can beseen in FIGS. 1 and 3, acts as a guide for documents being fed. Q

Mounted on the frame member 64 are a plurality of mutually spacedbearing-supporting members generally designated by the reference numeral76. Referring to FIG. 3, each of the bearing-supporting members includesa threaded shank '78, a shoulder 80, a cylindrical shank 82, areduced-diameter section 34 and a headed end 86. Fitted on the shank 82are the inner races of a pair of conventional ball bearings 88. A splitspring washer 90 is disposed about the reduced-diameter portion 84 andurges a retainer washer 92 upwardly as viewed in FIG. 3, thereby toretain the inner races of the ball bearings 33 between the retainer 92and the shoulder 89. A sleeve -94 is flanged at each end and fittedabout the outer races of the bearings 88. A set of three annular rollers96 is cemented to the sleeve 94 between the end flanges thereof. Each ofthe rollers 96 is formed of a resilient frictional material such as softrubber. The radial dimension of the outer peripheral surface of each ofthe rollers 96 varies from a maximum to a minimum in the direction awayfrom the document registration surface provided by the platform 28. Asshown in FIG. 3, the crosssectional shape of the outer marginal portionof each of the rollers is conical and terminates in a blunt, rather thana sharp, radially outer edge. The frictional mate-- rial of which therollers 96 are formed is such that the coeflicient of friction betweenthis material and a document is greater than that between the endlessperipheral surface of the disc 44 and a document.

Each of the rollers .96 may be preformed as a separate piece, thencoated with cement about its inner periphery, radially expanded,positioned about the sleeve 94 and finally permitted to contract aboutthe sleeve. Alternatively, and in the form shown in FIG. 3, an integral,hollow, cylindrical piece of rubber is coated with cement about itsinner periphery and applied about the sleeve 94 between the end flangesthereof. After the cement has set, the integral cylindrical piece isturned down with a rasp or other suitable tool to form the set of threeintegral rollers 96.

With the outer peripheral surface of each of the rollers 96 varying froma maximum to a minimum in the direction away from the documentregistration surface of the platform .28 along with the factors thatthis outer marginal portion is formed of resilient material whichprovides a friction coefficient between itself and a document greaterthan that provided by the disc 44, all as described above, a radiallyinward force applied to each of the rollers tends to deflect theradially outer marginal portion thereof in the direction opposite tosaid last-mentioned direction and toward the document registrationsurface. In order to increase this tendency to deflect toward theregistration surface, the flat undersurface of each of the rollers 96can be undercut or relieved, if desired.

The set of three rollers 96 rotatably mounted on each one of the bearingsupporting members 76 is spaced from the next adjoining set or sets ofrollers 96 a distance shorter than the length (in the direction offeeding) of the shortest document to be fed. This ensures that at leastone of the sets of rollers 96 is in engagement with each document at anygiven instant throughout the feeding of that document about the outerperiphery of the disc 44.

Each of the sets of rollers 96 is adjustable in the general directionstoward and away from the outer periphery of the disc 44 to provide, foreach document to be fed, a slight interference fit between the outerperipheral surface of each roller 96 and the outer peripheral surface ofthe disc 44. The generally radially inward force developed against eachof the rollers 96 due to this interference relation causes downwarddeflection of the radially outer marginal portions of these rollers asdepicted in FIG. 3. This adjustment is achieved by virtue of eccentricdisposition of the axis of the threaded shank 78 relative to the axis ofthe cylindrical shank 82; this latter axis defining the axis of rotationof the respective set of rollers 96. This eccentric relation can be seenin FIG. 3, but is best shown by the plan view of FIG. 4 wherein theframe member 64, a nut 100; and a washer 4 102 have been omitted forclarity of illustration. In effecting the adjustment of each set ofrollers 96, the respective nut 1W is loosened, a screw-driver isutilized in cooperation with a slot .104 at the free end of the shank 78to adjust the latter rotatably, and the nut is tightened down whileholding the shank in adjusted position with the screw driver.

In operation, the outer peripheral surfaces of the rollers 96 of eachset thereof are deflected toward the document registration surface atthe respective areas of contact of the rollers with each document as thelatter is being fed therepast. The effect ofthe rollers 96 is to urgeeach document toward the document registration surface to bring the edgeof the document next adjacent the registration surface into engagementtherewith while forward feeding of the document continues. It has beenobserved that while being fed between the disc 44 and a set of rollers96, a document appears to have a rotational component of motion about anaxis located more remote from the registration surface than is thelocation of the rollers. Also, the area of contact of each roller withthe document is generally ar-cuate or crescent-shaped, with the two endsof the arc or crescent being more remote from the registration surfacethan is the point of greatest deflection of this area of contact. Ofcourse, any point on the peripheral surface of a roller 96 that contactsa document deflects away from the registration surface while moving fromthe location of maximum deflection the same amount this point deflectstoward the registration surface While moving to the location of maximumdeflection. However, while this point is moving to the location ofmaximum deflection, the document is Working to deform or deflect theroller periphery whereas the roller periphery is merely relaxing orrecovering While moving from the location of maximum deflection with theresult, it is believed, that the downward deflection (as viewed in FIGS.2 and 3) of the radially outer marginal portion of each roller is moreeffective in urging the document toward the registration surface thanupward deflection is in urging the document away from the registrationsurface.

Whatever may be taken as the explanation for the effect of the rollers=96, the correcting action of these rollers is effective to correct awide range of misregistrations including those whereby only the lead endof the document engages the rcgistration surface (clockwise skew), onlythe trail end of the document engages the registration surface(counterclockwise skew), and both the lead and trail ends of thedocument are out of engagement with the registration surface. Also, thiscorrecting action has been observed when the disc 44 was driven manuallyat a peripheral speed as slow as approximately one-half inch per secondas well as when the disc 44 was power driven at a peripheral speed ofone hundred fifty inches per second.

Another advantage that flows from the arrangement described hereinwhereby a plurality of sets of rollers 96 are disposed along a portionof the circular outer periphery of the disc 44 is that the longitudinalbowing of each document as it conforms to this circular peripheryreinforces the document against buckling due to the yielda-ble urging ofthe document against the registration surface by the rollers 96. Ofcourse, the greater the degree of the above-described interference foreach document between the peripheral surfaces of the disc 44 and thoseof the rollers '96, the greater will be the misregistration correctingeffect but the greater will be the tendency to buckle the document. Asubstantial range of document thicknesses from paper to card stock havebeen operated upon successfully by adjusting the rollers 96 toward andaway from the disc 44 to strike a proper balance between these twofactors. To aid in preventing buckling of the documents withoutdecreasing the rnisregistration correcting effect, a pair of guides 73and 106 are provided as shown in FIGS. 1-3. The guide 73 is secured tothe platform 28 by the mounting pins 68 as described above, and theguide 106 is secured to the platform by screws (not shown). The spacebetween the opposing side walls presented by the guide members 73 and 1%follows the document feed path about the respective portion of theperipheral surface of the disc 44. These opposing side 7 walls arerelieved or recessed at 108 and '110, respectively,

whereby the possibility of the edge of a document working its way into aminute space between the platform and either of the guides 73 and 106,is avoided.

The unit 42 as particularly described herein can be identical to thetiming unit 23 of the above-mentioned patent to W. J. Hanson et al. withthe exceptions that the sets of rollers 96 and their mounting means ofthe present disclosure take the place of the idler rollers and theirmounting means about the periphery of the disc as disclosed in saidpatent, the guide members 73 and 106 may be provided as disclosedherein, and the timing fingers (77) and their supporting means asdisclosed in said pat ent can be provided or not as desired. In thislatter regard, it is to be noted that the present invention provides thefurther advantage that the misregistration function of the sets ofrollers 96 does not interfere with the timing function of the timingfingers when the latter are provided. The timing fingers and theirsupporting structure were omitted from this description to avoidunnecessarily complicating the same.

Since many changes can be made in the embodiment of the invention asparticularly described and shown herein without departing from the scopeof the invention, it is intended that this embodiment be considered asexemplary and that the invention not be limited except as warranted bythe following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for correcting the misregistration of documents fedthereto, said apparatus comprising a wheel having an endless peripheralsurf-ace adapted to be driven about a closed path, means providing adocument registration surface, a roller, at least the radially outermarginal portion of said roller being formed of a resilient materialproviding a coefficient of friction between said material and a documentgreater than the coefficient of friction between a document and saidperipheral surface of said wheel, bearing means supporting said rollerfor rotation about an axis intersecting said registration surface, saidroller being disposed with its peripheral surface adjacent theperipheral surface of said wheel to provide an interference relation foreach document when fed between said two peripheral surfaces, the radialdimension of said peripheral surface of the roller varying from amaximum at one side edge of said peripheral sunface to a minimum in thedirection away from said registration surface where by the radiallyouter marginal portion of said roller is deflected toward saidregistration surface while engaging each document being fed and thelatter is yieldably urged toward said registration surface.

2. An apparatus for correcting the misregistration of documents fedthereto, said apparatus comprising a member having an endless peripheralsurface adapted to be driven about a closed path, means providing adocument registration surface, a plurality of rollers, at least theradially outer marginal portion of each of said rollers being formed ofa resilient material providing a coefficient of friction between saidmaterial and a document greater than the coefiicient of friction betweena document and said peripheral surface of said member, bearing meanssupporting said rollers for rotation about a common axis substantiallyperpendicular to said registration surface, each of said rollers beingdisposed with its peripheral surface adjacent the peripheral surface ofsaid member to provide an interference relation for each document whenfed between the peripheral surface of said member and the peripheralsurfaces of said rollers, the radial dimension of the peripheral surfaceof each of said rollers varying from a maximum at one side edge of saidperipheral surface to a minimum in the direction away from saidregistration surface whereby the radially outer marginal portion of eachof 'said rollers is deflected toward said registration surface whileengaging each document being fed and the latter is yieldably urgedtoward said registration surface.

3. An apparatus for correcting the misregistration of documents fedthereto, said apparatus comprising a wheel having an endless peripheralsurface, means mounting said wheel for rotation about a first axis,means operatively connected for rotatably driving said wheel about saidaxis to move said endless peripheral surface about a closed circularpath, a document feed deck providing a document registration surfaceextending perpendicular to a portion of said endless peripheral surface,a roller, at least the radially outer marginal portion of said rollerbeing formed of a resilient material providing a coefficient of frictionbetween said material and a document greater than the coeflicient offriction between a document and said endless peripheral surface of saidwheel, bearing means supporting said roller for rotation about a secondaxis intersecting said registration surface, said roller being disposedwith its peripheral surface adjacent the endless peripheral surface ofsaid wheel to provide an interference relation for each document whenfed between said two peripheral surfaces, the radial dimension of saidperipheral surface of the roller varying from a maximum at one side edgeof said peripheral surface to a minimum in the direction away from saidregistration surface whereby the radially outer marginal portion of saidroller is deflected toward said registration surface while engaging eachdocument being fed and the latter is yieldably urged toward saidregistration surface.

4. An apparatus for correcting the misregistration of documents fedthereto, said apparatus comprising a member having an endless peripheralsurface adapted to be driven about a closed path, means providing adocument registration surface, a roller, at least the radially outermarginal portion of said roller being formed of a resilient materialproviding a coefficient of friction between said material and a documentgreater than the coefficient of friction between a document and saidperipheral surface of said member, bearing means supporting said rollerfor rotation about an axis intersecting said registration surface, saidroller being disposed with its peripheral surface adjacent theperipheral surface of said member to provide an interference relationfor each document when fed between said two peripheral surfaces, saidradially router marginal portion of the roller being conical incrosssection, and said peripheral surface of the roller diverging fromthe endless peripheral surface of said wheel in the direction away fromsaid registration surface whereby the radially outer marginal portion ofsaid roller is deflected toward said registration surface while engagingeach document being fed and the latter is yieldably urged toward saidregistration surface.

5. An apparatus for correcting the misregistration of documents fedthereto, said apparatus comprising a wheel having an endless peripheralsurface adapted to be driven about a closed circular path, meansproviding a document registration surface extending perpendicular to aportion of said endless peripheral surface, a roller, at least theradially outer marginal portion of said roller being formed of aresilient material providing a coefficient of friction between saidmaterial and a document greater than the ooefiicient of friction betweena document and said endless peripheral surface of said wheel, individualbearing means supporting each of said rollers for rotation aboutrespective axes intersecting said registration surface, said axes beingspaced from each other about said portion of said endless peripheralsurface a respective distance less than the length of the shortestdocument to be fed, each of said rollers being disposed with itsperipheral surface adjacent the endless peripheral surface of said wheelto provide an interference relation for each document when fed betweensaid endless peripheral surface and the periph eral surface of each ofsaid rollers, the radial dimension of said peripheral surface of each ofsaid rollers varying from a maximum at one side edge of said peripheralsurface to a minimum in the direction away from said registrationsurface whereby the radially outer marginal portion of each of saidrollers is deflected toward said registration surface while engagingeach document being fed and the latter is yieldably urged toward saidregistration surface.

6. An apparatus for correcting the misregistration of documents fedthereto, said apparatus comprising a member having an endless peripheralsurface adapted to be driven about a closed path, means providing adocument registration surface extending perpendicular to a portion ofsaid endless peripheral surface, a roller, at least the radially outermarginal portion of said roller being formed of a resilient materialproviding a coefiicient of friction between said material and a documentgreater than the coefficient of friction between a document and saidendless peripheral surface of said member, bearing means supporting saidroller for rotation about an axis intersecting said registrationsurface, said roller being disposed with its peripheral surface adjacentthe endless peripheral surface of said member to provide an interferencerelation for each document when fed between said endless peripheralsurfaces, means mounting said bearing means for adjustment thereoftoward and away from said endless peripheral surface of said member toadjust the degree of said interference relation, the radial dimension ofsaid peripheral surface of the roller varying from a maximum at one sideedge of said peripheral surface to a minimum in the direction away fromsaid registration surface whereby the radially outer marginal portion ofsaid roller is deflected toward said registration surface while engagingeach document being fed and the latter is yieldably urged toward saidregistration surface.

3. AN APPARATUS FOR CORRECTING THE MISREGISTRATION OF DOCUMENTS FEDTHERETO, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A WHEEL HAVING AN ENDLESS PERIPHERALSURFACE, MEANS MOUNTING SAID WHEEL FOR ROTATION ABOUT A FIRST AXIS,MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED FOR ROTATABLY DRIVING SAID WHEEL ABOUT SAIDAXIS TO MOVE SAID ENDLESS PERIPHERAL SURFACE ABOUT A CLOSED CIRCULARPATH, A DOCUMENT FEED DECK PROVIDING A DOCUMENT REGISTRATION SURFACEEXTENDING PERPENDICULAR TO A PORTION OF SAID ENDLESS PERIPHERAL SURFACE,A ROLLER, AT LEAST THE RADIALLY OUTER MARGINAL PORTION OF SAID ROLLERBEING FORMED OF A RESILIENT MATERIAL PROVIDING A COEFFICIENT OF FRICTIONBETWEEN SAID MATERIAL AND A DOCUMENT GREATER THAN THE COEFFICIENT OFFRICTION BETWEEN A DOCUMENT AND SAID ENDLESS PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF SAIDWHEEL, BEARING MEANS SUPPORTING SAID ROLLER FOR ROTATION ABOUT A SECONDAXIS INTERSECTING SAID REGISTRATION SURFACE, SAID ROLLER BEING DISPOSEDWITH ITS PERIPHERAL SURFACE ADJACENT THE ENDLESS PERIPHERAL SURFACE OFSAID WHEEL TO PROVIDE AN INTERFERENCE RELATION FOR EACH DOCUMENT WHENFED BETWEEN SAID TWO PERIPHERAL SURFACES, THE RADIAL DIMENSION OF SAIDPERIPHERAL SURFACE OF THE ROLLER VARYING FROM A MAXIMUM AT ONE SIDE EDGEOF SAID PERIPHERAL SURFACE TO A MINIMUM IN THE DIRECTION AWAY FROM SAIDREGISTRATION SURFACE WHEREBY THE RADIALLY OUTER MARGINAL PORTION OF SAIDROLLER IS DEFLECTED TOWARD SAID REGISTRATION SURFACE WHILE ENGAGING EACHDOCUMENT BEING FED AND THE LATTER IS YIELDABLY URGED TOWARD SAIDREGISTRATION SURFACE.